“The earth, O LORD, is full of your love; instruct me in your statutes. You are good and you bring forth good; instruct me in your statutes.” (Psalm 119:64, 68)

Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm. In the original Hebrew, it’s an acrostic poem built on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

It really annoys some people, not only because of it’s length but because it comes off as simplistic morality. It’s kind of a primer for students with a basic theme of “be good.”

Yet it is full of spiritual treasure if one keeps digging.

I’m especially fond of verses 64 and 68, quoted above. We learn the laws of God not to be good, but because God is good. God fills the creation with love, and we can join God in loving the creation by learning the statutes that God weaves into the universe.

God is good and brings forth good, and we discover and enjoy the goodness of God by learning and practicing His ways.

This is an important perspective as we enter the season of Lent this month. Our Lenten disciplines, whatever we choose to give up or add, are not to “make us good” but to help us discover the perfection that makes us good (often in spirit of ourselves) – the love of God in Jesus Christ making all things new by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I pray that this Lent will bring you into deeper love of the One who loves you, and to celebrate Him with joy at Easter.